Guild Wars 2 is going Free-To-Play

I remember doing a lot of PvP on my Ele, and getting a few levels that way; is this still viable, or has the game progressed long enough that everyone has great gear and will stomp me?

Guardian's a ton of fun, I've gotten most everything up to at least 10-20 and I like my Guardian the best, so far. Greatsword/hammer is good and what I usually run, though both took a while to really grow on me.

WvW can be great XP or hardly any depending on the action. Going against level 80 with WvW experience, a good build, and gear to suit, is really rough as a lowbie newb. As in "will stomp you and 2 other people like you, at the same time." But in a big group you that's taking lots of objectives you can have a lot of fun and get a lot of XP/karma/etc. Ranged, AoE, and support abilities are handy there. There's an SBI TeamSpeak server, so you can hop on that to listen to strategy and directions that don't always make it to in-game chat.

Apart from that, yes, whatever hearts and events you come across. There are some good event chains that people like, but I'm not entirely up to date on all of those. The Maw is a popular one, since it has something like 5 or 6 events that are all next to each other so you can clear them out quickly, and it's fairly low level so you can hit it fairly early on (the other day I quit rezzing a level 4 who went down every 30 seconds or so to the level 12+ mobs, but other people got him back up.)

I'm on most nights, jumping around from alt to alt, but my account is zagreus.7902 (should see me in the guild roster, I might be wrong about the digits) and I'm happy to group up on the nights when my usual coop buddy is being a filthy traitor and grinding XP IRL (stupid degree probably won't even help his DPS.) I can also show you a few handy spots to make a few silver gathering. No cash fountains, but handy at lower levels to keep you in spending money.

Ok because I'm a genius I didn't realize I had to queue the bounty mission after getting the unlock Oops. There's a 12-hour build time so that puts us into tomorrow.

How dare you?!?! No, really, its a simple mistake that makes sense since you would figure after spending eleventy billion influence to get the mission type unlocked that you could just start them on demand with maybe some sort of cooldown.

I got to play with the Super Adventure Box for a few short minutes last night and I'm in awe. Such a fun and silly addition. And we get it for the rest of the month. Anet has stated that if the community likes it enough they'll make it permanent with more updates/levels. If you haven't seen it yet, go to Rata Sum and talk to Moto. Its a giant 8-bit game and jumping puzzle.

I'm interested in hearing how the bounty mission went. My guild has it queued up and we're just waiting to get enough people online at once to kick it off.

We ended up spinning our gears a bit figuring things out while the timer ticked down, but it was very educational as to how we need to approach it next time, especially with a limited group. Now that we all know where to look for the targets (Guild screen, Upgrades, Missions off the top of my head without being able to check in-game), we can get off to a quicker start. We'll also probably split up into parties depending on the number of folks involved so we can see each others locations more easily while running all over an area.

I'd be willing to guest over (I assume they're on a different server?) for their run even just as a passer-by to make up numbers. Ideally of course I'd get an invite so I could rep for that, to get the full rewards if we don't do our own run before reset, but they understandably might not be too keen on the whole random guy from the internet you don't really know representing their guild part of that. They could kick me out after!

Super Adventure Box is fun. They definitely play with your expectations at times.

Maybe the shovel works a bit better in later worlds or something, but unless someone comes out with hard numbers showing it's worthwhile, I'd say skip buying it for now. Maybe it's got a rare chance to give a bunch of baubles at once or a skin or etc, but in a short run of testing I only got 1 bauble a few times. 10% hit rate with an 8s CD for 1 bauble (and sometimes an angry rabbit) is pretty meh when you pay 100 baubles to get it.

I only got through a bit of it since I was distracted by some work stuff, hopefully I'll be awake enough tonight to see more of it.

I wouldn't attempt anything above a T1 bounty with only 7 players. And if you get Sotzz or Yanonka as one of your targets, you're pretty much totally fucked.

All I can say is that my guild just attempted two T3s on Saturday with about 70 players, and wound up failing both because even though we pre-scouted every target that you can, and wound up taking out the first 5 out of 6 in about 5 minutes each time, we got stuck with Yanonka the first time and Sotzz the second time and the bounty timer ran out before we could find either.

If you get one of those, pretty much just resign yourself to killing the other targets, scoring the personal rewards/commendations, and forget about the guild merits. Seriously, the way those two work is pretty much a gigantic middle finger from Anet to players.

And now they have put the sonic periscopes into the monthly achivements list. Joy...

Wish I hadn't turned in the 20 or so logs I randomly stumbled across over the last 3-4 days. /sigh

Loving Super Adventure Box so far, though. I've only gone in there once with the intention of attempting to make it to the very end but didn't quite finish (had some issues figuring out the final boss). For the most part I have just been going in trying to blow crap up with bombs and dig all over the place.

As far as bounties, if the goal is to get merits, run what you think your group size can handle. If the goal is to get individual rewards, run nothing but T3 as that way you have more possible targets you might have pre-found and you only really need the one to get credit.

And now they have put the sonic periscopes into the monthly achivements list. Joy...

This is the first monthly where you can pick any four tasks though. You don't have to do periscopes at all..

While true, some of the options where things i need to group to do and i do not do groups (random gatherings around events or helping someone in a tight spot in PVE sure, but not dungeons, fractals or anything else of that nature). Thing is, i would not mind the task so much if the periscopes didn't spam coned knockback attacks from the word go. With high enough frequency that you barely have time to get up before you get knocked down again. And no, you can't just farm a few in a area and be done with it. You can only get one log pr periscope pr day. And there are maybe 50 of them scattered around the shiverpeaks zones.

Monthly Completer requires 4 days of dailies across the month, should be able to do solo. Veteran slayer can be easily farmed in a couple of places (one of which being the tunnel leading to Tears of Icatol or however it is spelled) and events should be easy enough depending on what areas you focus your time in. Jumping puzzles would just require a few alts or a few days with the Lions Arch ones. Depending on your stance on WvW and abilities the 50 kills should be not too difficult even if you avoid the zerg.

I agree with you, though, that killing the periscopes can be damned annoying and with the once a day (per character?) you can loot them this could be the most annoying of the monthlies, but at least it isn't required.

Thing is, i would not mind the task so much if the periscopes didn't spam coned knockback attacks from the word go. With high enough frequency that you barely have time to get up before you get knocked down again.

Stability? Dodge? I get knocked down, but I get back up again; knockdown duration reducers?. What about mobs or environmentals that spam bleeds? Cripples or the best ever; Confusion? Buck up soldier! Get some counters or bring a friend that has some counters. Or should everything be reduced to shooting fish in a barrel? I keed, I keed. No, not really.

Finished Flame and Frost or whatever the title is for the staged Living Story. Too bad you can't redo them, I got a Destroyer Lodestone out of the devourer mission. I guess this is not the final bit though? Maybe there will be a new dungeon coming up?

Super Adventure Box is a joy. Who would have thought to put a video game inside a video game? (sarcasm). No clue what I am doing yet. Went in there with 2 players and finished the first leg before logging for the night. Got a couple of Bubble Baubles out of boss chest. The Greatsword skin is pretty cool and my Warrior just happens to be an Asura so definitely going for that. Hopefully, this will be a recurring event.

Heh, actually found a quick way to pop periscopes. The much lamented engineer elite mortar seems to deliver enough of a punch on its concussion barrage to quickly flatten them. And it also deploys fast and provides 2 minutes of stability to anyone operating it.

And the audio log seems to be pr account.

Also, it seems the jumping puzzle monthly only count each jumping puzzle once. At least it didn't count one of those i did yesterday today, even tho the daily had been reset in between. Time to break out those online maps and scour them for JPs...

Also, it seems the jumping puzzle monthly only count each jumping puzzle once. At least it didn't count one of those i did yesterday today, even tho the daily had been reset in between. Time to break out those online maps and scour them for JPs...

How many is it for the monthly? There's three in Lion's Arch - one's easy, one's medium hard once you know how to do it, but a big long, and one's just bloody annoying. Between that and hitting the WvW Borderlands one I think I already got that part of the monthly, but I can't recall for sure.

My plan is the 3 in Lion's Arch, the JP in southeast corner of Southsun Cove, Demongrub Pit in Queensdale, the raven cave in Wayfarer, the 4 in Caledon (though may skip the lab as it can be annoying), and the 2 in Malchor's Leap. If I skip any then Vizier's Tower or King Jalis's secret base. Diessa Plateau also has 3 as I recall, and bonus to kill the sonic emitters while traveling there. I like the ones in Orr as the chests usually give me better rewards and can refill my Omnom berry supply while down there.

Heh, actually found a quick way to pop periscopes. The much lamented engineer elite mortar seems to deliver enough of a punch on its concussion barrage to quickly flatten them. And it also deploys fast and provides 2 minutes of stability to anyone operating it.

And the audio log seems to be pr account.

Also, it seems the jumping puzzle monthly only count each jumping puzzle once. At least it didn't count one of those i did yesterday today, even tho the daily had been reset in between. Time to break out those online maps and scour them for JPs...

Well crap, they must have changed that this month. Then again, it only requires 12 whereas when you could re-do them daily it needed 40. Time to start a list, I guess.

Over on Reddit there is a list of "easy" JPs. And thanks to me already having done two in Diessa and the 3 found in Lion's Arch i have now completed that monthly. And i am one daily away from another monthly, leaving me the choice of events, veterans (hello oakhearts) and periscope logs. Guess i'll spin my wheels in a place with easy access to oakhearts and events for the rest of the month...

Over on Reddit there is a list of "easy" JPs. And thanks to me already having done two in Diessa and the 3 found in Lion's Arch i have now completed that monthly. And i am one daily away from another monthly, leaving me the choice of events, veterans (hello oakhearts) and periscope logs. Guess i'll spin my wheels in a place with easy access to oakhearts and events for the rest of the month...

Guess the monthly was easier than it first looked.

If you want veterans, go to WvW. Many "monster" veterans, along with plentiful veteran NPC defenders of the towers and camps. Just find the zerg and tag along. I'm 60% done with my monthly veteran count after only 2 days after only about 2.5 hours of WvW. Besides, killing oakhearts always makes me feel like a jerk.

Over on Reddit there is a list of "easy" JPs. And thanks to me already having done two in Diessa and the 3 found in Lion's Arch i have now completed that monthly. And i am one daily away from another monthly, leaving me the choice of events, veterans (hello oakhearts) and periscope logs. Guess i'll spin my wheels in a place with easy access to oakhearts and events for the rest of the month...

Guess the monthly was easier than it first looked.

If you want veterans, go to WvW. Many "monster" veterans, along with plentiful veteran NPC defenders of the towers and camps. Just find the zerg and tag along. I'm 60% done with my monthly veteran count after only 2 days after only about 2.5 hours of WvW. Besides, killing oakhearts always makes me feel like a jerk.

But what better way to also get the plant slayer achievement? Kill two birds with one stone.

Over on Reddit there is a list of "easy" JPs. And thanks to me already having done two in Diessa and the 3 found in Lion's Arch i have now completed that monthly. And i am one daily away from another monthly, leaving me the choice of events, veterans (hello oakhearts) and periscope logs. Guess i'll spin my wheels in a place with easy access to oakhearts and events for the rest of the month...

Guess the monthly was easier than it first looked.

If you want veterans, go to WvW. Many "monster" veterans, along with plentiful veteran NPC defenders of the towers and camps. Just find the zerg and tag along. I'm 60% done with my monthly veteran count after only 2 days after only about 2.5 hours of WvW. Besides, killing oakhearts always makes me feel like a jerk.

But what better way to also get the plant slayer achievement? Kill two birds with one stone.

I play a sylvari, you vegicidal maniac.

Turns out I'm getting the WvW players kills, veteran kills, super fast event rate because seriously everything in WvW is an event (3 things for monthly) while saving up badges for a legendary. So 4 birds with one stone. I have no problem with avicidal behavior.

Over on Reddit there is a list of "easy" JPs. And thanks to me already having done two in Diessa and the 3 found in Lion's Arch i have now completed that monthly. And i am one daily away from another monthly, leaving me the choice of events, veterans (hello oakhearts) and periscope logs. Guess i'll spin my wheels in a place with easy access to oakhearts and events for the rest of the month...

Guess the monthly was easier than it first looked.

If you want veterans, go to WvW. Many "monster" veterans, along with plentiful veteran NPC defenders of the towers and camps. Just find the zerg and tag along. I'm 60% done with my monthly veteran count after only 2 days after only about 2.5 hours of WvW. Besides, killing oakhearts always makes me feel like a jerk.

How are engis holding up these days? I havent played in a long time, thinking about firing it up again. I have several characters in the 5-15 range and an engi in the 50s. Would like to get to 80 to at least see everything once. So...

How are they in the higher levels for leveling?WvW? (I used to enjoy nade spamming or using elixirs/gun and trying to be a "healer")Dungeons? (will it be hard to get in groups)

How are engis holding up these days? I havent played in a long time, thinking about firing it up again. I have several characters in the 5-15 range and an engi in the 50s. Would like to get to 80 to at least see everything once. So...

How are they in the higher levels for leveling?

I think they are still a bit rough at the bottom end before you get to about level 20 and have most of your toolbelt open up. Higher levels, though, they should be a bit stronger than they used to be. You now get stats/sigil from your equipped weapon(s) and the base damage of your kits are set at the base damage of the highest level/rarity weapon you could in theory have equipped (Masterwork at ~10, Rare at ~40, and Exotic ~70). Curious what they will do when they get around to adding Ascended weapons.

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WvW? (I used to enjoy nade spamming or using elixirs/gun and trying to be a "healer")

Not a clue past turrets probably still being all but useless due to low health and susceptibility to AoE.

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Dungeons? (will it be hard to get in groups)

You won't get into War/Mes speed runs but past those groups most people just don't give a crap what your profession is. Not sure if there is a profession bias for high level fractals (30+) but everything else shouldn't be an issue.

Curious what they will do when they get around to adding Ascended weapons.

Hopefully acended weapon and armor will do no better than exotic in terms of damage and armor, but will provide a double set of stats along with a infusion slot similar to current ascended items.

Honestly ascended right now looks like a kludge to work around some kind of UI limit regarding slots. They seem to be slightly boosted exotics with a prefilled upgrade slot to make room for the infusion slot in the UI. Never mind the confusion inherent in both having infusion slots and the items themselves being MF upgradeable to (infused) status...

Curious what they will do when they get around to adding Ascended weapons.

Hopefully acended weapon and armor will do no better than exotic in terms of damage and armor, but will provide a double set of stats along with a infusion slot similar to current ascended items.

Honestly ascended right now looks like a kludge to work around some kind of UI limit regarding slots. They seem to be slightly boosted exotics with a prefilled upgrade slot to make room for the infusion slot in the UI. Never mind the confusion inherent in both having infusion slots and the items themselves being MF upgradeable to (infused) status...

You know, I didn't even think of the Rune/Sigil slot and how all the current Ascended gear doesn't have the equivalent slot. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the current hold up and am slightly (barely) hopeful that when they do get it working that they go back and split the upgrade slot for trinkets as well.

Supposedly the plan was for two handed weapons to have a second upgrade slot. I wonder if part of the problem is how to pick what slot to overwrite when applying a new upgrade.

Never mind the whole issue with naming items that has multiple slots. Each upgraded item variant seems to have it own database entry after all, meaning that if you introduce a second slot you multiply the number of items in the database with the number of available upgrades for that type.

Had fun trying the Guild Bounty missions tonight. Glad to see we were at least able to find the people if not kill them. Congrats to those that got the personal rewards from the targets that were killed in time.

I looked up a bit regarding Sotzz and ANet are looking at the mechanics around him and plan on having something for the next update.